Cross & Crescent

Tom Cochrun (Ball State 1968) has explored Cuba, Turkey, the Serengeti, the jungles of Africa, and the tops of active volcanoes in Alaska and Hawaii.

He has been shot at, thrown down stairs, had two cars firebombed, been tied up, his house broken into, and his files ransacked.

But that hasn’t deterred Cochrun from reporting the news, for he takes the good and bad in the name of journalism. Through the last 40 years he has been able to positively impact his craft and society.

The Journalism Bug

Cochrun’s career has flourished after the early influences in his life.

“I first got the journalism bug when listening to the radio as a child,” says Cochrun. “Hearing reporters from Korea and China about the shelling of Kamio and Matsu. Then I would hear voices come from Washington, D.C., and then I would hear Lowell Thomas talking about places he had been in the world.”

Thinking that he wanted to be a basketball coach and journalism teacher, Cochrun chose Ball State University because of its Teachers College.

Before leaving for school, he wrote a letter to then NBC news anchor David Brinkley saying he was struggling with his career choices.

Brinkley wrote back saying, “If you want to be a practicing journalist, don’t major in it, minor in it. Study philosophy, history, pre-law, political science, and learn to read and write. The way to learn to write is to read a lot.”

Shortly after Brinkley’s reply, Cochrun gave up his basketball coaching dream, switched his major to political science/sociology, and he began his journalism career.

“I started working at a commercial station in Muncie, Indiana, through school,” he says. “I knew I wanted to pursue a career in journalism and broadcasting.”

TV Anchorman

Cochrun landed his first television job at WISH in Indianapolis, Indiana, working on a TV magazine show.

When he first appeared on camera, he was criticized for being too serious and wooden. “The crew began holding up a Miss Piggy doll while I was reading my lines,” Cochrun recalls, “and that helped break me and make me feel comfortable.”

In 1981, Cochrun transferred to WTHR, where he spent the next 14 years.

While at WTHR, Cochrun’s career flourished with many in-depth, hard-hitting investigative reports on many controversial topics.

“Sometimes we would tilt windmills that needed to be tilted at, pick at problems that needed to be picked at,” says Cochrun. “We were forcing government response and attention to issues as we were trying to look out for the common good.”

One of the biggest investigations Cochrun did involved the Ku Klux Klan resurgence in the 1980s.

After extensive investigative work, Cochrun successfully penetrated their secret military training facilities and had access to KKK leaders and their families.

The investigation took nearly nine months and Cochrun was honored with the national Emmy in 1982. The judges praised his reporting as “one of American journalism’s finest hours.”

The Business Side

In 1994, Cochrun left WTHR as senior anchor.

“TV news was in its silly season. Local and national news was becoming irrelevant to people and it was more about advertising and managing ratings,” he says. “At that point in time cable and satellite was really taking off. I saw it as an opportunity to do the type of journalism I like, long-form journalism and documentary.”

Cochrun got a business plan, some investors, and started out with three guys and some folding chairs. Ninetieth Star Productions was founded.

The company quickly grew and was creating videos for broadcasters around the world. They produced 29 hours for Discovery Communications (Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, Travel), programs for Court TV, and so on.

Cochrun eventually became frustrated as he was often bogged down with the company business and he was not able to focus on making videos.

After the events of September 11, two things happened to the industry that changed Cochrun’s focus. “First news got serious and relevant again. Second, the market dynamic of production companies changed, the economy was in a tail spin.”

Ninetieth Star got involved in a merger, so Cochrun had the chance to get out, and he did.

New Age News Director

In 2003, Cochrun received an offer to return to WISH as news director.

“This is different because most news directors come up through a news career,” says Cochrun. “I had the news career but also nine years’ experience as a businessman. I had experience dealing with investors, budgets, cash plans, and profit and loss statements.”

Cochrun took his business practices back into the newsroom, including adding a mission/vision statement, and he found these changes created a unique environment.

“The staff understands what we do for the viewer. If people give us their time and trust, we have the obligation to give them quality journalism. We are trying to build a relationship with the viewer so they will come back to us day in and day out.”

Cochrun’s approach has proven successful. Since he took over, the station’s ratings and demographics have improved, and they also have received peer recognition and industry awards.

Bonds of Brotherhood

The first night on the Ball State campus, Cochrun and a friend saw several groups of people wearing jackets with different coats of arms.

“There was a something about a particular group of guys we saw at one place,” remembers Cochrun. “There was a certain allure about these guys. They were courteous and seemed to have a good attitude.”

When Cochrun and his friend had a chance to talk to the group of Lambda Chis, the brothers inquired about their rush plans and then gave them some memorable advice.

“They told us that the most important thing we could do was to get an education, and that the way to do it was to learn how to study,” says Cochrun. “They said, ‘So what you need to be doing this semester is spending a lot of time studying.’”

Cochrun was very involved in student government and served as freshman class president. While many fraternities pursued him, he felt truly honored when the brother of Lambda Chi Alpha invited him to visit the chapter and later offered him a bid.

Deeply inspired by the ritual, Cochrun soon became the chapter’s ritualist. In this role, he was instrumental in revamping the associate member program and the pre-initiation activities.

“I thought the ritual was the spine of the Fraternity,” says Cochrun. “It is what we have in common with our brothers, regardless of their social idioms or what their lives may have been like. It was a good prescription for life.”

Cochrun knows first-hand about true brotherhood. During his senior year he was in a very bad car accident. He suffered a compound skull fracture, was in a coma, and almost died.

The brothers quickly rallied, bringing his parents and girlfriend (who is now his wife) to the hospital.

“To this day my wife remembers their gesture as being one of the greatest acts of compassion and giving in her life,” Cochrun says.